While
we opened our Christmas gifts on Tuesday morning I collected all the reusable
bows, bags, tissue paper and gift wrap and stashed it in the gift wrap
tote.I also acquired a couple gift
boxes for clothing, which is great because I was completely out of them.

On
Wednesday I stopped at the dollar store and picked up two rolls of Christmas
gift wrap for half price and two packages of tissue paper to re-supply the gift
wrap tote.I now have plenty of wrap for
several Christmases to come.Total spent
on these items was $3 plus tax.

Thursday
I headed to Bed Bath & Beyond with a 20% off coupon and a $25 gift card I
had received for my birthday back in September.I didn’t know what to use it for until it occurred to me that they sell
kitchen knives – duh!

I
was able to get a really nice Cuisanart sontuko knife to replace the one I
broke in half at Thanksgiving.This one
is a little heavier duty and I made sure it was full tang so I won’t have to
worry about it snapping in half, hopefully.The coupon saved me $4 off the regular price and I still have funds left
on the gift card for something else.

Because
Petco is in the same parking lot I popped in real quick to use a coupon I had
printed online for a free can of cat food.I grabbed the food and the girls checked out all the pets they had for
sale.I did have to pay the sales tax
but still a great freebie.

We
pretty much abandoned our meal plan last week because of an overwhelming amount
of Christmas leftovers.We polished off
clam chowder one night, shrimp pasta alfredo the next, stuffed mushrooms and
rice pilaf after that and then used a leftover pork chop in pan fried noodles on
Saturday.The leftovers also provided us
with lunches.So delicious and no food
waste!

I
started an afghan using yarn leftover from previous projects.I’m making granny squares.

Our
chickens blessed us with 12 eggs this week and one was another double yoker.You go girls!

I
printed this out, taped it into my day planner and penciled a few notes. There are several points here I know I could
stand to work on. I can only imagine how
much better my life would be if I was able to master this list.

Friday, December 28, 2012

I
am really pleased with how our Christmas turned out this year and even more so
with the final tally.

First
of all, I am so proud of my girls.They
had each set a budget of $5 a piece to purchase gifts for each other and $10
for gifts for me.It was neat to see the
thoughtfulness they put into their gifts for each other.It was important to each of them to get
something nice that they would really enjoy and use.

This
is what I ended up doing:

For
the girls I made them each pajamas and an extra night gown for my oldest as she
had passed down most of her nightwear to her younger sister.The cost of these pajamas was literally $0
because a friend of mine gave me the fabric and my mother had given me the
thread, trim and snaps I used.

Night shirt

Pajama bottoms & T-shirt with butterfly applique

Pajama top & bottoms for my youngest

I
also made each of my girls a hand knit hat.The cost on these was less than $1 because I used leftover yarn and yarn
that I had purchased from the thrift store.

·2
sets of leggings from Fred Meyer’s clearance rack $3.99 each

·A
T-shirt I turned into a pajama top for my oldest was $2.25

·“Used-like
new” DVD set of Season 7 of The Closer for my parents $17.98 from Amazon

·2
new book sets for the girls from Amazon $41.30 (my biggest purchase)

·Twilight
DVD, another DVD set and a Phase 10 game from Santa $0, used a Target gift
card.Santa is thrifty too!

·Coupons
for time with Mom - $0 (Priceless!)

After
all was said and sales tax was included my final total spent out of pocket came
in at $83.02!The items I purchased from
Amazon with my credit card were paid off right away when the bill came due.After family and friend’s gifts there was
more than enough under the tree and the girls seemed very happy with everything
they got.

Additionally,
as you already know, I purchased a Christmas tree for $19.99.I spent $10 at the dollar store on some décor
to decorate our chicken coop, a pair of reindeer antlers for a Christmas
concert and some candy canes for a fun craft project.I also picked up a few craft supplies at Jo
Ann’s for less than $6.Most of those
items will actually be used next year.I
already have a head start!I did not
include these items as part of the $100 Challenge.

I
am super excited about next year too, because I plan to do the same challenge
again and see if I can get even more for my dollars spent.So much fun ahead!I can hardly wait to get started.

Footnote:I took $3.18 of my leftover budget to
purchase 2 rolls of clearance gift wrap for 50¢ each and two packages of tissue
paper at $1 each bringing the total spent to $86.20.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Due
to a lot of savvy shopping, the better part of a $50 Walmart gift card and a
lot of coupons stacked with coupon doublers I was able to acquire quite a bit
of food this month and stay inside my budget, well I did go over by 47¢, but I
am completely okay with that.Most months
I come in under so it’s a wash.My
non-food total this month came in at $24.28.

The
vast majority of the items I purchased with the gift card and coupons went
toward stocking up my pantry. All my
stock up items are marked in blue. I am
very happy with where we are sitting as we head into a brand new year and a
brand new budget.

This
is what I bought with my December budget of $125.00:

Groceries

$$$

Breakfast
sausage (16)

15.80

Store
Coupon

Clam
chowder (10)

9.99

Store
Coupon

Spaghetti
sauce

6.32

Store
Coupon

Green
beans (12)

6.00

Store
Coupon

Mushroom
soup (4)

1.96

Store
Coupon/Coupon

Stuffing

1.58

Store
Coupon

Milk -
1/2 gal (4)

5.00

Store
Coupon

Orange
juice - 1/2 gal (2)

2.50

Store
Coupon

Crackers
(2)

2.98

Coupon

Baking
chips (3)

5.64

Less
Bag Refund

(0.15)

Flour
tortillas (2)

3.48

Pretzels

1.88

Sugar -
4#

1.88

Tea

2.08

Cream
cheese

1.28

Romano
cheese

1.98

Raisins

1.78

Tater
tots

1.34

Potatoes
- 5#

1.28

Red
potatoes - 5#

2.78

Canola
oil

2.58

Pecans

2.63

Canned
tomatoes (4)

2.32

Crushed
pineapple

0.72

Asparagus
soup

1.44

Peanut
butter

3.88

Honey

2.50

Bean
sprouts

1.08

Coconut
milk

1.58

Olives
(2)

1.56

Spinach

1.68

Whipped
topping

0.74

Mandarin
oranges (2)

1.36

Corn
dogs -16ct

4.48

Tomato
sauce (2)

1.06

Mayonnaise

1.98

Double
coupon

Italian
sausage

2.78

Double
coupon

Canned
chicken (2)

2.56

Double
coupon

Less Gift
Card

(7.32)

Milk -
1 gal

0.88

Double
coupon

Cranberry
juice

0.48

Double
coupon

Chocolate
milk - 1/2 gal

1.48

Double
coupon

Less Gift
Card

(2.84)

Mayonnaise

1.58

Double
coupon

Weiners
(2)

0.28

Double
coupon

Stuffing

(0.12)

Double
coupon

Less Gift
Card

(1.74)

Sugar
- 4# (2)

3.00

Store
Coupon/Double coupon

Pineapple
chunks (3)

0.94

Double
coupon

Canned
chicken (2)

2.56

Double
coupon

Cake
mix (2)

0.98

Store
Coupon/Coupon

Chocolate
chips (3)

5.64

Store
Coupon

Brown
sugar 2# (2)

3.00

Store
Coupon

Soy
sauce

0.99

Coupon

Less Gift
Card

(17.11)

Milk -
1/2 gal (4)

5.00

Store
Coupon

Brachs
chocolate stars

2.02

Sage

0.21

Carrots

1.28

Celery

2.48

Lettuce

1.98

Dip

1.79

English
muffins

0.78

Tortilla
chips

1.18

Half
& half

0.88

Frozen
spinach

0.88

Total

$ 125.47

So
how did I do all year?After tracking my
expenses I took the grand total and divided it by twelve for an average monthly
amount which came in at $122.33.Amazingly
enough, it is $1 less per month than it was in 2011.Not bad for feeding a family of three plus ending the year with a very well
stocked pantry and freezer.

I
did some research and the average amounts most families our size spend are
between $500 and $600 per month.Some
were as low as $300 and as high as $1000 (gulp!).They do include their non-food purchases in
these totals, but still, if I had to do that every month we would be in some
serious trouble.